Chapter Ninety-Five: Just Play Along with Him

Under Chu Dong’s two-round pressure, Wang Dongliang was forced into a notarial transfer at gunpoint with a fake pistol, and the handover of his 8 percent stake in the Hai Feng Group took legal effect.

It was not that Wang Dongliang was rich enough not to care; he simply had no idea the gun in Chu Dong’s hand was a fake. Based on his impression of Chu Dong, there was no telling whether he might actually fire. When two evils must be weighed, one chooses the lesser. Compared with money, his life was still more important. Yet when he saw Chu Dong casually lighting a cigarette with the muzzle of that gun, he was nearly sick with rage.

Tao Xue stared for a long while at the notarial certificate Chu Dong had tossed to her before finally understanding that, while she had been in the spa, they had actually been engaged in a grand gamble. Alone, and without a sound, Chu Dong had somehow won eight percent of the Hai Feng Group. By rough calculation, that was no less than twenty percent of the Silver Dragon Group. Added to the six percent of Silver Dragon already in Chu Dong’s hands, within less than five months after making a wager with her, the boy had actually managed to win a small fortune.

It seemed that when betting against this fellow, one really had to be prepared to lose.

"I’ll keep this for you for now. You can’t use it anyway." Tao Xue snatched up her small purse and quickly stuffed the notarial certificate inside.

"Who says I can’t use it?" Chu Dong made as if to snatch it back, looking rather stingy, but seeing Tao Xue hold the little bag tightly against her chest, he gave up. "It’s fine if you keep it, but this has to count as bride price. Don’t try to use it as your dowry later, or I’ll be the one at a loss."

"You wish." Tao Xue curled her lip and simply ignored him.

Li Youlan and little Yu’er still had their mouths hanging open, and after a long time they had not closed them. They had not yet recovered from the shock. This was even more astonishing than winning the top prize in a lottery. In the blink of an eye, tens of billions had been gained, even faster than robbing a bank.

"Brother-in-law, you should give me some. I was the one who brought you here. Otherwise how could you have had such a good chance to make money? For that alone, you ought to share a bit with me." Seeing that the notarial certificate had been tucked away by her sister and that she herself had gained nothing, little Yu’er hurried up to Chu Dong, rising on tiptoe to knead his shoulders in ingratiation.

"Share? Of course I’ll share," Chu Dong said, eyes narrowed as he enjoyed his sister-in-law’s service. "From now on, I’ll be responsible for your spending money. On top of what you already get, I’ll add fifty yuan a week."

"Huh? Only that little?" Little Yu’er had been even more diligent when she thought he meant sharing, but the moment she heard it was only fifty yuan more a week, she stopped at once. "Cheapskate. I’m not massaging you anymore."

After returning home, Wang Dongliang shut himself in his room, fearing that if his father found out, he might take a knife and hack him to pieces.

That was no small sum. This one blow had almost set his family back more than ten years. How long would it take to earn back three billion yuan?

But he could not hide this matter. Rather than letting it come out later when Chu Dong came looking for him, it was better to confess now and at least give Hai Feng some time to prepare.

With a hardened heart, Wang Dongliang recounted the events of the day to the old man during dinner.

At first Wang Jingtong did not quite believe it. Even if he had lost a bet, there was no need to hand over all his shares. But seeing his son with tears and mucus streaming down his face, he realized it must be true.

Trembling with fury, Wang Jingtong pointed at Wang Dongliang’s nose and cursed him soundly. "Good-for-nothing. Now I finally know what it means to be a wastrel. Get out! The farther, the better!"

"Dad, I didn’t want this either." Wang Dongliang dropped to his knees with a thud. "At first I thought that if I won, I’d get enough shares to take part in Silver Dragon’s actual operations, and wouldn’t have to waste effort buying up those retail investors’ stocks. Who knew that boy was a wolf in sheep’s clothing? He pretended he couldn’t play at first, and later he didn’t even give me a chance..."

"In two lousy games of billiards, he took away eight percent of my shares? Are you an idiot? And you really gave them to him?" Wang Jingtong clenched his wineglass so hard he nearly hurled it at his son’s head.

Wang Dongliang instinctively ducked and raised a hand to shield his eyes. Seeing that his father had not really thrown it, he still felt cold sweat break out all over him. "He had a fake gun at the time. I was afraid that if he actually fired... he tortured Via so badly she was half dead. If he had really made a move, I was afraid I’d be dead."

"Hmph. Useless fool." Wang Jingtong slammed the glass down hard on the dining table, rose, and went from the dining room to the sofa in the sitting room. He closed his eyes and said nothing for a long while.

He had always held high expectations for his son. In the past, the boy had indeed been promising, learning many advanced management and business methods during several years of study in Britain. After returning, he had helped him greatly, and among the circles Wang Jingtong moved in, he had always been praised as a brilliant young man. That was also why he had transferred those eight percent shares into his son’s name so early.

Who would have thought that ever since his son left the Silver Dragon Group, he would make blunder after blunder. First he tried to buy up Silver Dragon’s shares in secret, intending to bring down Silver Dragon. He spent a great deal of money, yet acquired very little stock. And that was not all. Today, he had even lost equity in Hai Feng worth tens of billions.

"Who took your shares?" Wang Jingtong finally calmed himself after a long while, opened his eyes, and asked Wang Dongliang, who was still kneeling there.

"Chu Dong. A little punk no different from a hooligan." At the mention of Chu Dong, Wang Dongliang’s teeth itched with hatred.

"Chu Dong? Why him?" Wang Jingtong was stunned. Of course he remembered him; this was the boy who had squeezed three hundred and fifty million out of him.

"Dad, you know him?" Wang Dongliang could tell from the old man’s expression that he also knew Chu Dong.

Wang Jingtong nodded. "If it was him, then you did not lose unjustly."

Though that was what he said aloud, in his heart he had already marked Chu Dong. Why had this boy latched onto my family and ruined us? First he used one piece of land to sell at a sky-high price here, and now he has won more than three billion in equity from my son. Did he really become a tycoon by bullying the Wang family into submission?

"How many Silver Dragon shares do you have in hand now?" Wang Jingtong suddenly changed the subject.

"About two percent. We’re still far from five percent." Wang Dongliang did not understand why his father, who had not much approved of touching Silver Dragon in the first place, would suddenly ask about this. Still, he answered honestly.

"Have you calculated it? If I let you operate freely, once Silver Dragon goes bankrupt, or before it goes bankrupt, how much can you extract at most?" Wang Jingtong thought for a moment and asked again.

"If we keep playing this out, we should be able to recover today’s losses. But I don’t have enough capital. Given the current situation, I couldn’t even make back half." If Wang Dongliang had money in hand, he would not have spent so long scrambling and still remained at two percent.

"Money is not the issue. What matters is how much confidence you have." Seeing his son hesitate, Wang Jingtong knew he was short of funds.

"As long as I have the money, I guarantee I can win back what we lost today." Seeing his father unexpectedly support him, Wang Dongliang was almost ready to leap up with joy.

"Still, be careful. Silver Dragon is no small fry." Seeing Wang Dongliang so pleased with himself, Wang Jingtong found him somewhat too conceited and reminded him.

"Dad, don’t worry. Back then, what about the Chu family? Weren’t they not much weaker than Silver Dragon now? And didn’t they still get taken down in the end?" Seeing that his father seemed calmer now, Wang Dongliang started to stand.

"What do you know?" Wang Jingtong slapped the tea table, startling Wang Dongliang back to his knees. "It took a tremendous amount of effort to bring down the Chu family back then. Even though the Chu family had internal and external troubles at the time, without Marshal Maier backing us from behind, who knows what the outcome would have been. With your reckless temper, I really don’t feel at ease."

"Dad, I was only saying. Don’t worry, I’ll be twice as careful."

Wang Dongliang was also growing somewhat afraid after being lectured by his father.

"Then go prepare. I hope you won’t disappoint me this time." Wang Jingtong was somewhat listless after being struck by this news and waved for him to get up.

"I understand." Only then did Wang Dongliang stand.

Chu Dong was naturally in a very good mood after winning money, though it would have been even better if Tao Xue were a little nicer to him. As he washed the dishes, this was what he thought.

"Brother-in-law, I want some oranges. I think I saw some in the kitchen or somewhere. Find them for me!" little Yu’er shouted from upstairs at the top of her lungs.

Chu Dong answered and, after finding the oranges, carried them upstairs together with a wastebasket.

Little Yu’er, Tao Xue, and Li Youlan were sitting on the floor playing a card game. All three had several paper strips pasted on their faces, with Li Youlan having the most.

When little Yu’er saw the oranges, she took them joyfully and generously gave Chu Dong one as a reward. The game was interrupted. Li Youlan peeled off all the slips from her face and cried out that it was boring.

The sun was slanting westward, and light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spreading across the floor. Tao Xue sat with her back to the window, her jet-black hair gleaming in the sunlight, her lovely face so alluring that Chu Dong found her more beautiful the more he looked.

"Are you done cleaning yet? Hurry up. Once you’re finished we can play mahjong. This isn’t fun at all." Perhaps because she had been losing and was getting discouraged, Li Youlan took her frustration out on Chu Dong.

"There’s only me cleaning such a big place. How am I supposed to keep up? If you think I’m too slow, then you do it." Chu Dong had been admiring the beauty, only to be interrupted by Li Youlan, and so he answered a little displeased.

If Tao Xue criticized him, he would accept it. But this girl Li Youlan kept meddling in everything. If it had not been for her constantly getting in the way, with Chu Dong’s unrivaled "talent," after living together for so long he might have already won Tao Xue over. That was why he gave Li Youlan no special courtesy at all.

"Oh? You’ve got the nerve to talk back now." Li Youlan looked incredulous, glaring at Chu Dong and sizing him up from head to toe before turning to Tao Xue. "Xiaoxue, I originally thought this guy had been doing pretty well lately and was going to persuade you to just stay with him. Who would have thought he’d only keep up the act for a few days before showing his true colors? I still support your runaway-bride plan."

"Hey, what? A runaway-bride plan?" Chu Dong yanked off his apron and threw it to the floor, then plopped down beside Tao Xue. "You still want to run? From now on I’m watching you twenty-four hours a day. Let’s see where you run."

In the midst of the uproar, Chu Dong’s phone rang. As soon as he answered, he heard George’s anxious voice: "Boss, that mysterious bidder is now buying Silver Dragon shares on a massive scale. I’m about to lose my footing here."

"Why panic?" Chu Dong put away his playful grin and lit a cigarette. "Since we’ve got an opponent, let’s play with him."